Table of Conflict Definitions.     IS  CONTINUALLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION

    Author(s)                             Definition                                                                          Key Terms

Coser 1956	Social conflict is a struggle between opponents over    values and claims to scarce status, power and resources.	struggle, opposition, scarcity
Schelling 1960	Conflicts that are strategic are essentially bargaining situations in which the ability of one participant to gain his ends is dependent on the choices or decisions that the other participant will make.	strategy, bargaining, dependence
Deutsch 1973	A conflict exists whenever incompatible activities occur . . . one party is interfering, disrupting, obstructing, or in some other way making another party's actions less effective.	incompatibility, interference effectiveness
Wall 1985	Conflict is a process in which two or more parties attempt to frustrate the other's goal attainment . . . the factors underlying conflict are threefold: interdependence, differences in goals, and differences in perceptions.	goals, interdependence,   perceptions
Pruitt and   Rubin 1986	Conflict means perceived divergence of interest, or a belief that the parties' current aspirations cannot be achieved simultaneously.	interests, aspirations, beliefs
Conrad 1990	Conflicts are communicative interactions among people who are interdependent and who perceive that their interests are incompatible, inconsistent, or in tension.	communication, interdependence   tension
Tjosvold and   van de Vliert   1994	Conflict--incompatible activities-- occurs within cooperative as well as competitive contexts . . . conflict parties' can hold cooperative or competitive goals.	incompatibility, cooperation    competition
Folger,   Poole, and   Stutman 1997	Conflict is the interaction of interdependent people who perceive incompatible goals and interference from each other in achieving those goals.	interaction, interdependence    incompatibility

As Table 1 reveals, these definitions have much in common.  First, they indicate the inevitability of conflict in human affairs.  Second, they reveal key features of conflict situations.  Many of the defninitions, for example, stress that conflicts involve interdependent parties who perceive some kind of incompatibility between them.